When considering a place to live, there are some similarities between home and apartment searching. However, both processes are also slightly different especially depending on the demographics and age group of the people searching. It’s important to be mindful of these differences. This doesn’t mean to judge people by their age and other demographic features, but when your potential clients do bring up concerns or criteria for places to live, it’ll be important to address them accordingly. Their demographics could be influencing certain factors or criteria, and it shows simply how human your clients are and that they’re more than a sale.
Two things that are the highlight of any home or apartment search are the price and location:
Price
Like any other client-based service, try to stay as within the client’s budget as possible. If you show too many listings to a client above their budget, it might turn them off from relying on you to find more listings. Bonus points if you’re able to show them places well below budget! (I understand how hard this might be with how expensive the housing market is these days, but that’s a different topic altogether)
Whether someone is renting an apartment or buying a house, sticking to their budget makes a huge difference in their search.
Location
Location is one of the most marketable things about both a home and an apartment. Amenities, convenience, transportation, the type of location and the overall likability of the location can boost the chances of somebody committing to a home or an apartment. Different people are looking for different things in their search for a place to live, but it doesn’t change the fact that the location is one of the biggest factors in the search.
Both the price and location seem similar on the surface, but sometimes the demographic and circumstances of potential clients create the differences between home and apartment searching. When people are younger and either trying to attend school or trying to advance their career, they might look into getting an apartment as a temporary place in their life. If people are of an older demographic or otherwise content with their career choice, they’ll turn to home searching as a permanent place to settle.
It’s worth noting that if you help someone with a temporary place to live in, they might come back to you for future home or apartment searches! They could even spread the word to people they know about your reliability. Either way, you’ll always benefit from being mindful of your clients.
